Catharina of Württemberg

Catharina of Württemberg

A portrait of Queen Catharina in 1807
Queen consort of Westphalia
Tenure 22 August 1807 – 26 October 1813
Born 21 February 1783
Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire
Died 29 November 1835(1835-11-29) (aged 52)
Lausanne, Switzerland
Burial Ludwigsburg Palace Church[1]
Spouse Jérôme Bonaparte
Issue Jérôme Napoléon Charles Bonaparte
Mathilde Bonaparte
Prince Napoléon Bonaparte
House Württemberg
Father Frederick I of Württemberg
Mother Augusta of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel

Princess Catharina Frederica of Württemberg (21 February 1783 – 29 November 1835) was Queen consort of Westphalia by marriage to Jérôme Bonaparte, who reigned as King of Westphalia between 1807 and 1813.

Life

Catharina was born in Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire, to the later King Frederick I of Württemberg and Duchess Augusta of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. When she was five years old, her mother died and her father married her mother's first cousin Charlotte, Princess Royal.

Catharina married Jérôme Bonaparte on 22 August 1807 at the Royal Palace of Fontainebleau in France. The marriage was arranged as a part of the alliance between France and Württemberg, which had been concluded in 1803.

Upon marriage, she became queen consort of the Kingdom of Westphalia. During his reign, Jerome was unfaithful with a number of partners, the most noted being Diana Rabe von Pappenheim.

When the kingdom of Westphalia was dissolved, she followed Jerome to France. During the war, she and Désirée Clary took refuge with Julie Clary at Mortefontaine, and when the allied troops took Paris, they took refuge in the home of Desirée Clary in Paris.[2]

After the downfall of the Napoleonic Empire in 1814, her father expected her to separate from Jerome as Marie Louise had done from Napoleon, but instead she followed him into exile to Trieste in Austrian Italy.

During the Hundred Days in 1815, she helped Jerome to escape to join Napoleon, and was as a consequence deported to Württemberg, where she was placed in house arrest. After the defeat of Napoleon, she was joined by her spouse in house arrest.

Catharina and Jerome was eventually released from house arrest and spent their remaining life together in Trieste, Italy and Switzerland under the name of the Princess and Prince of Montfort.

In November 1835, Catharina died in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Issue

Titles and styles

Ancestry

References

  1. ↑ Find a Grave
  2. ↑ Lindwall, Lilly: (Swedish) Desideria. Bernadotternas anmoder.[Desideria. The Ancestral Mother of the Bernadottes] Stockholm. Åhlén och Åkerlunds Förlag A.-B. (1919)

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